The Lovereading4Kids comment

A cleverly plotted, scary thriller, Heretic interweaves a strong historical setting with a whimsical â€˜faeryâ€™ story. Set in England during the reign of Henry V111 Heretic is a story of persecution and survival across different centuries. Elizabeth and her family are in hiding with a Catholic priest trying to stay safe from the persecutors who have outlawed their religion. Deep in the woods, she finds an unusual green-tinged creature who turns out to be Isabella, a girl of her own age who has been kept safe from persecution as a witch 300 years earlier, by the â€˜faeryâ€™ folk. As the net tightens on Elizabethâ€™s family, the girls work together to keep the persecutors at bay. (12+)

Synopsis

Heretic by Sarah Singleton

When Elizabeth finds a green-tinged creature she's amazed to discover that it's actually a girl of her own age. Isabella has spent the last 300 years in the faery world, hiding from persecutors who accused her of being the daughter of a witch. Elizabeth has her own persecutors to face. A priest is hiding in her home, and the net is closing in.

About the Author

Sarah Singleton was born in rural Northamptonshire and holds an honours degree in English Literature and Language from the University of Nottingham. She travelled in Europe, India and Nepal, and worked variously with horses, in a chocolate shop, as a factory operative, and a chambermaid in Germany, before becoming a journalist.

In 1993 she married Brian Hoare, and they have two young daughters. Now, she lives in Chippenham, "in beautiful mystic Wiltshire," and works as a senior reporter for the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald, campaigns with a local human rights group, and is learning to play violin.